AAOM Handbook

Executing each one of the activities on the above diagram entails a significant number of decisions and actions – there are over 350 in the detail of the Business Process Framework design. If we are to have any chance of meeting the requirements for the best consistency and performance from an activity, and from the BPF as a whole, we will have to ensure that each decision and action, and its performance specifications, are defined and appropriate. The detailed design delivers this. The design must provide a tightly specified instruction for all the work for which the outcome or method of execution really matters. It is sometimes thought that providing such detailed and comprehensive specifications and instructions is disrespectful of people, implying that they need to be given this detail because they could not do the work without it. This is not the case. There are three other reasons why detailed instructions and specifications are required: • There may be several different ways of doing the work, or different specifications that could be applied to the work. If such options do not produce unacceptable variation in the work outcome then an approach and specification do not need to be mandated. If a different approach or specification can produce unacceptable variation to outcomes then one standard must be set, and this must be mandated for all. It is not a message that the person executing the work does not know how to do it, but a message that doing the work in the specified way matters. • As stated before, people are generally the most unreliable element in a process. It is a human trait that we can and will make mistakes in processes that we have completed correctly many times before, particularly if the process is complex. Detailed instructions, specifications, and their abbreviated form in checklists, are essential to achieving consistency in work performed by people. Therefore, in all walks of life checklists and instructions are used where it is critical that consistency be achieved. For example, a person cannot obtain a pilot’s licence without demonstrating many times that they can land a plane. Yet every time a pilot lands a plane they work through a detailed checklist – why – because it matters, and even experienced people forget, or can be distracted. • If there is no documented approach or specification then work practices mutate over time. Most of these mutations have the effect of reducing the consistency and quality of work. Without a documented standard there is no reference point, no ability to measure work performance, and hence a very difficult task to maintain a standard.

Purpose

The purpose of the Business Process Framework is to ensure that;

Processes deliver the business expectations established with management